One-Day Disney Park Passport from 1983

After the Year of a Million Dreams promotion was stretched into years, Disney tried the What Will You Celebrate promotion. Disney has now retooled the What Will You Celebrate promotion into Give a Day, Get a Disney Day.

The idea of this promotion in Disney’s own words is “to inspire one million people to volunteer a day of service to a participating organization in their communities.” This country has some of the most generous people in the world, and they usually can be counted on to give quite a bit when a disaster happens almost anywhere in the world. According to Associated Press, Americans have donated more than $5 million through their cell phones to help the victims of the recent Haiti earthquake. So it should not be hard to get a few people to give a little right? Well, there is always the small print. You can’t just donate your time to any old cause; they must be approved by Disney and arranged through Disney’s website. It is their promotion after all.

Visit Examiner.com for the rest of the story.

The Disneyland Story: Featuring Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln

Greg Nutt

With the announcement by Disney today that Captain EO, the 1986 collaboration between George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola and Michael Jackson, will make a return to Disneyland for a limited run, many have over looked the return of a true Walt Disney classic attraction, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.

Originally created for the 1964/65 New York World’s Fair by Walt Disney and his creative team of Imagineers for the State of Illinois, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln found a home at Disneyland’s Opera House on Main Street U.S.A. in the summer of 1965.

Read the rest of the story at Examiner.com

Mystic Manor Concept Model

D23 was pretty good and the most amazing part for me was the Walt Disney Parks & Resorts Exhibit.

Not only did they pull out all the stops for the presentations, they had front line Imagineers manning the exhibits. Many of them the actual artists or project mangers for the exhibits they were assigned too. In the photograph to your right Imagineer Dustin explains the story and show effects for Hong Kong Disneyland’s upcoming “E” Ticket – Mystic Manor. If there was an “F” Ticket, this one attraction might lead the way to a whole new level in Disney story telling and presentation.

Disney Hawaii DVC Concept Model

I’ve wanted to become a DVC member for some time. So far it has not been in the cards for me and Disney Vacation Club has not offered much that I found exciting beyond the Walt Disney World Resort. Well this resort has changed my mind and it’s fantastic.

I was lucky enough to see the concept art at the Architects office that design the resort for Disney almost a year ago and I was impressed then. To see the model and talk to the Imagineers about this new resort was great. We talked “shop” as we were both long time architectural project managers, and the funny thing was, we both know some of the same people in the industry. It’s a small world after all. Sorry I could not resist!

Wall*E @ D23

Wall*E and Lucky the Dinosaur both made appearances at D23 in the Walt Disney Parks & Resorts Exhibit. Lucky was popular in his own right, but Wall*E stole the show at this part of the exhibit. Long lines of guest waited to get their photos taken with Wall*E and Disney’s Photo Pass Castmembers were on hand to help you out (and make a buck or too! LOL).

Wall*E was what you would expect from a robot left on a planet to fend for himself, noisy when he rolls around, beat up, and as cute as can be. He will be a great addition to the parks and I hope to see him there soon.

For more photos of concept art, seminars and Disney Celebs from D23, please visit my flickr D23 set at http://www.flickr.com/photos/imagineeringmyway/sets/72157622336183372/

Radiator Springs Large Scale Model @ D23

Disney’s California Adventure – Pacific Warf

Over the weekend of September 4th, the Lucky Fortune Cookery (LFC) finally opened its doors in DCA. As many of you are aware the LFC had a sign and a walk up location in the Pacific Warf dining area for a long time. However, the only time they served food out of the location was during the Food and Wine Festival at DCA. Over the past few months Disney began to rework the kitchen in the LFC area in preparation for the move of Cocina Cucamonga into the old LFC location. Once the kitchen was completed the two restaurants switched locations.

The concept with the LFC is that you can build your own Asian rice bowl. ($9.49)

Step 1: You choose your “Favorite” Chicken, Beef or Tofu

Step 2: You choose your sauce. Choices are Mandarin Orange, Spicy Korean, Thai Coconut Curry or Teriyaki.

All bowls come with steamed rice and seared Asian vegetables (Carrots, Snow Peas, Bok Choy and Onions)

They also serve a “Munch Inc” kid’s portion of Teriyaki chicken ($6.49) this includes a small Teriyaki Chicken bowl, fruit and a drink.

Let’s first talk about the overall quality of the food.

The rice was a bit overcooked and slightly mushy. The chicken was fairly standard for this type of bowl. (Thigh meat) The chicken that we got was fairly tender and not overcooked. The vegetables where mediocre at best, more than likely some where just left in the cooker too long. The bok choy and onions where overcooked. The carrots and celery undercooked. So, you had some mush and you had some snap…go figure.

For the chicken rice and vegetables on a 1-5 scale, I’ll give it a 3.

On the sauce choices, my wife ordered the Mandarin Orange and I ordered the Spicy Korean. The kids both got Teriyaki.

The Mandarin Orange was fairly ordinary and not much different than you would get at your local Asian rice bowl type restaurant/fast food place. It had a slight spiciness to it but by no means was it too spicy.

The Spicy Korean sauce was a bit strong and salty for my taste. It was not spicy to my taste and was a bit on the heavy side. I would actually say it was somewhat overpowering. (All you tasted was sauce)

The Teriyaki sauce was your run of the mill everyday Teriyaki sauce. A safe bet for people not sure what they want.

Overall, the sauces where a bit salty and could be overpowering to some individuals. I would highly recommend asking for the sauces on the side.

At the condiments bar they did offer some Sriracha hot sauce. I opted to add some to my Spicy Korean sauce to give it the kick I was looking for.

So, for the sauces that we tried on a scale of 1 -5, it would be a 3.

The one area that I have the biggest complaint about is the portion size. More specifically, the portion size to cost ratio is what my complaint is about.

I’m very familiar with Disney and their cost of food being, at what I would call “Event” pricing.

So, it’s not a surprise for me to see a meal at $9.49. However, knowing that the rice in the bowl probably cost them about .02 cents, and that they are using some of the cheapest chicken meat you can purchase. I’m not sure why they don’t fill up the bowl all the way.

If you look at the two pictures. They fill the “Bowl” about half way up. Considering that they could fill the rest up with rice and maybe spend about .01 more, it really makes no sense to me. Trust me, I’m not a glutton and looking for the biggest meal I can find, but I am looking for some reasonable value that is somewhat proportional to the money I spend. Unfortunately, the LFC just does not deliver in this area. The same goes for the child’s portion. I think the words out of my wife where…. “That little box for 7 bucks….we should have just got the kids a Taco at Cocina”

Isabella with her mini rice bowl

That being said on a Scale of 1-5 for portion value, I give it a 2.

That would give LFC an over rating of a 2.6 on a 1-5 scale.

Walking away from the meal the best question you can ask yourself is would you go back? Both my wife and my self said “No” or not until they change a few things on the way they serve the food.

I may have had a fluke of a visit. However, judging from the other meals I saw going out, they all looked the same. (On the positive, at least they where consistent…)

I’m sure others may disagree with me on this one, but I really feel like they missed the mark on this one and we won’t return until there is a noticeable change.

Unfortunately, I don’t know how quickly it will be before they change anything.

Hi guys, Stephen here from Sydney, Australia.

 

Here is my review of Cruzin DCA on Segways. It is a early start for this tour and you need to meet a cast member at 7:30 am at guest relations. They told us to stand near the letter “C” and they would find us. You are then taken to a room at the back of guest relations to watch a video about the segways and how to ride. They also offer a light breakfast of coffee, tea and pastries.

 

Once the tour begins, youare taken by the cast member to in front of Monsters Inc where you get to have a go at driving the segways. These segways are so much fun to ride and easy to learn. Then you head off to tour the park and stop at many points where the cast member tells you about things in that area that you would not normally know. The tour allows you to see the park from a very different perspective including the large drop at Grizzly River with no water in it and it even allows you to go through redwood creek challenge on the segways. The tour takes in the whole park and some of the back stage areas.

 

At the end of the tour you get you picture taken near the Hyperion theater.You are given a nice souvenir photo and Pin. I think this tour is realy cool and would definitley recommendit to others.

 

This tour takes about 3 hours and costs $99 and is worth every cent. I have attached a photo of my wife and I enjoying the segway tour.

 

Stephen  

D23 Update

I finally received all my D23 packages after what seemed like an eternity. I signed up on March 10, 2009, the first day the D23 memberships were available, on a whim to see what all the hub bub was about.

After about 9 days I received my membership card which I wrote about here on the Travelears Blog on March 20, 2009.  Shortly after that post I started to hear and read how others were receiving the remainder of their D23 packages and the much anticipated “special gift” and I was disappointed I had not received mine. I did sign up on the first day didn’t I?  What was the special gift, would it simply be a pin? GOD I hope not. Well the reports coming in indicated the gift was not a pin, it was a lithograph of Mickey’s 80th Birthday. For me this is a welcomed gift as I have many previous lithographs from other Mickey Mouse anniversaries from when I work for Disneyland.

I did question whether or not the gift was a lithograph or a really nice poster on heavy paper. My lithograph arrived on March 25, 2009 and I left it in the tube, I didn’t even look. On the March 27, 2009, tube in hand, I traveled to a friends reprographics shop were I had the lithograph scanned for archival purposes.  I was impressed with the lithograph but was disappointed they were not numbered like most collectible lithographs are. It did have a nice embossing in the lower right corner that indicates the lithograph is part of D23 Walt Disney Archives Collection.

D23 Mickey Mouse Litho

D23 Litho Embossing

I have also scanned the Certificate of Authenticity for you as well as the Charter Member gift letter that was enclosed with the lithograph.

D23 Litho Certificate of Authenticity

D23 Special Gift Letter

On March 27, 2009 I received the final portion of my D23 packages. It was packed in a nice white package and as I opened it, the D23 magazine, my membership certificate and another Charter Member welcome letter were all inside.

D23 Unopened Package

D23 Unopened Package with seal still intact

All three packages, the membership card, the lithograph and the final magazine package with membership certificate all came from the same address in Florence, Kentucky. Walt Disney Company – 7455 Empire Drive – Florence, Kentucky – 41042. I can understand the lithograph coming separate, but I am not sure why they would ship the membership card and the final package separately. I am sure they have their reasons, it just seems odd.

D23 is off the ground now and lets hope it get goes well because I would love to see the D23 Community work and for Disney to bring us things we as fans want to see from them in the form of collectibles, video content, etc.

Miley Cyrus is embracing her country roots — her dad is country singer Billy Ray Cyrus, after all — by performing at the 44th annual Academy of Country Music Awards on April 5 in Las Vegas. The singer will sing her hit “The Climb,” according to People.

The show will be hosted by Reba McEntire, and country acts Lady Antebellum, John Rich, Lee Ann Womack and Jamey Johnson are also scheduled to perform. Miley’s friend Taylor Swift, who performed her song “Fifteen” with the “Hannah Montana” star at the Grammy Awards, is nominated for Top Female Vocalist, Video of the Year for “Love Story” and Album of the Year for Fearless.

“The Climb” is on the soundtrack to “Hannah Montana: The Movie.” Cyrus debuted the song at a Disney event back in September and also sang it at the Kids’ Inaugural concert in January.

For the rest of the story

The Festival de Cannes will enter another dimension this year with a world-premiere digital 3D screening of Disney Pixar’s “Up” as the opening film on May 13, organizers said Thursday.

Directed by Pete Docter and Bob Peterson and produced by John Lasseter, “Up” is an adventure story about an old man who ties balloons to his house and flies away to South America with a young boy in tow.

The movie marks the first time in Festival de Cannes history that an animated 3D title will screen in the prestigious opening ceremony slot.

The festival has always been animation friendly with several toon titles making their way to the Official Selection, including 1947′s “Dumbo,” 2001′s “Shrek” and last year’s Israeli documentary “Waltz with Bashir” among others. Disney will release “Up” stateside on May 29 and in France on July 29.

Organizers said it has not yet been decided on whether or not the movie takes a Competition slot.

The Festival de Cannes runs through May 24 with French actress Isabelle Huppert chairing the jury.

Originally posted by Rebecca Leffler and The Hollywood Reporter

“This unique environment, filled with textured fabrics, new silhouettes, and whimsical art and design allows us the opportunity to push the creative envelope as it relates to fashion and our characters,” said Mark Perrotta, director of Product Development and Design.  “Our guests continue to respond to trend merchandise and novel products that they can’t purchase at home.  Tren-D speaks to what is happening today with a blend of vintage and hip with stylized Disney influences.”

Offerings include organic loungewear, embroidered handbags, jeweled sunglasses and trendy accessories set among stylish art and unique furnishings.  The eclectic environment offers a raw and unfinished feel with jeweled chandeliers, distinct fixtures and mod furnishings.

Much of the merchandise will not be available anywhere else at Downtown Disney.  Designers such as Kidada Jones, Tarina Tarantino and Roxy will showcase their artistry – blending it with Disney-inspired creations.

“With its exclusive product lines and new environment, we think Tren-D will complement the existing merchandise offerings at Downtown Disney,” said Perrotta.

Tren-D is in a 2,500-square-foot venue near Pin Traders and Once Upon A Toy.  The space previously was used by Summer Sands.

From a Walt Disney World Press Release